The "Panama Papers" database went live on Monday - the largest ever release of secret offshore companies and the people behind them.

The data, collated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), comes from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca and includes information about companies, trusts, foundations and funds incorporated in 21 tax havens, from Hong Kong to Nevada in the United States.

Anglophile Hong Kong businessman named

An Anglophile Hong Kong businessman whose private equity firm launched a £350 million fund to invest in small and medium-sized firms in the UK has been named in Panama Papers, writes Robert Tait.

Victor Chu, who graduated with a law degree from University College London (UCL) and has practised law in Britain, is the founder and chairman of the First Eastern Investment Group, which launched the fund in 2010 to help British firms break into the Chinese market during a visit to Beijing by David Cameron.

At the time, the Prime Minister welcomed the fund - named the UK China Fund - saying it would help Britain to create jobs and boost exports.

First Eastern is also identified in the leaked documents, where it is named the First Eastern Direct Investment Group Limited.

When he launched the fund, Mr Chu said it would focus on buying minority stakes in British companies that lacked the resources to break into China on their own. He was interested in firms that sold services to the expanding Chinese middle class, he said.

First Eastern was part of a consortium led by Sir Richard Branson that in 2007 tried to buy Northern Rock after the troubled British bank fell into financial difficulties.

Mr Chu, who has served on UCL’s governing council is a trustee of Asia House in London and Hong Kong, and a member of the Mayor of London’s economic advisory International Business Advisory Council, according to a profile of him on Chatham House’s website.

He has also been a director of the Hong Kong stock exchange and is a foundation board member of the World Economic Forum.

Born in the Chinese province of Canton before moving to Hong Kong at the age of four, Mr Chu is known to be an avid follower of Liverpool Football Club.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing with Mr Chu or any of the others named in the leaks.

No US senators

David Lawler in Washington has been searching the database for notable US officials:

None of America's 100 senators appear by name in the Panama Papers, according to an initial search.

That does not mean that none have offshore investments, simply that among the thousands of Americans listed in the documents, none have a seat in the upper house.

Fewer prominent Americans have been named in the Panama Papers as might be expected, but tax experts say this is mainly because wealthy Americans have other avenues by which to store their money outside the reach of the Internal Revenue Service.

Associate of the Mexican president named

A construction tycoon, he built the house owned by Enrique Pena Nieto's soap star wife, Angelica Rivera, which caused the couple considerable embarrassment in 2014. Mr Pena is godfather to Mr Hinojosa's son, and the businessman is well known in Mexico.

Mr Hinojosa's company won a series of lucrative construction contracts in the state of Mexico when Mr Pena was governor, before becoming president.

And according to news magazine Proceso, Mossack Fonseca, in collaboration with the Mexican branch of the law firm D’Orleans & Bourbon Associates, helped Mr Hinojosa and his wife set up a series of shell companies on behalf of family members, including their respective mothers who are in their 80s, in New Zealand.

Mr Hinojosa and his wife then “donated” millions of dollars to the shell companies, which acted as beneficiaries of a foundation in Holland.

The scandal surrounding Mr Pena's wife's house led to an investigation, but all were cleared. McClatchy newspapers reported that the Mexican president remains close to the businessman.

“He still travels on the presidential plane, said Juan Pardinas, head of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, a leading free-market think tank in Mexico City. "He was invited to the state of the union speech. It’s really amazing how they still don’t get it.”

Messi among the names published today

Lionel Messi, the Argentine football star, is said to be among those named on the Panama Papers through his company, Mega Star Enterprises Inc.

The company, founded in February 2012, has an office in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo but is under the jurisdiction of Panama.

Messi, who has been under investigation by Spanish authorities for tax evasion since June 2013, is thought to own the company with his father, Jorge Horacio Messi. They are accused of using companies in Belize and Uruguay to avoid taxes.

The two shareholders named in the Papers are "el portador" or the holder.

Neither Messi nor his father are identifiable, unless you know that Mega Star Enterprises is owned by them.

Messi and his father will appear in court in Barcelona on May 31, on separate charges of tax evasion.

But in relation to the Panama companies and the Spanish tax charges, Messi and his father deny any wrongdoing.

Based in the Bahamas, the company - run by Mr Macri, his brother and father - was dissolved in January 2009. It is linked to a Uruguay firm, Santiago Lussich Torrendell, which is still active.

Mr Macri, who became president in December, is from a well-known family of industrialists in Argentina with interests in construction.

He has said that Fleg Trading was set up by his father to make investments in Brazil, but never did so. He also said he was never a shareholder, and never benefited financially.

“I have acted in accordance with the law and have nothing to hide,” he said in April.

Yet Norman Darío Martinez, an opposition congressman, has begun legal proceedings against Mr Macri - despite the president insisting that his behaviour was not illegal, and the head of the anti-corruption office saying there is no case to be heard.

Mr Martinez claims that the public records of Brazil say that Fleg Trading was registered in the country in 2002 and that it still remains active as of April 13, 2016.

Mr Martinez also says that Mr Macri is involved in a second company, Kagemusha, based in Panama, and that he has not mentioned it in his declarations of assets since 2006. That, Mr Martinez argues, would mean that he withheld the information during his two terms as mayor of Buenos Aires, from 2007 to 2015.

A judge in Argentina, Sebastián Casanello, has written to Panama and the Bahamas to request further information on Mr Macri's role in the companies.

'Behind-the-scenes fighting between big global powers'

Ahead of the release of this data, Panama's president said the revelations of the wealthy was just the the result of a behind-the-scenes fight of big global powers, AFP reports.

Juan Carlos Varela said: "It looks like internal politics and differences between the big powers is playing a role in how these issues are being handled. What I don't think is good is that big powers that want to fight are using Panama as a territory for that fight.

"If they want to fight they should do so in their own countries, and not use our financial and fiscal system.

"We are ready for whatever is published. The issue of these famous papers is a subject about the world financial system. It is not a Panama problem - it is a world problem," he said.

'Unprecedented' step to release data

“Today’s release is an unprecedented step forward for the public, journalists and campaigners who will now have access to this unique database of offshore financial secrets," says Murray Worthy,ActionAid head of campaigns.

This is the fuller statement mentioned earlier:

“We should not be reliant on leaks and whistleblowers to reveal to uncover tax haven secrets. The Panama Papers revealed a global tax dodging network, with British overseas tax havens at its heart. And it is the world’s poorest people who are hit hardest when companies and wealthy individuals don’t pay their fair share of tax.

“The Prime Minister must honour his promises to tackle tax haven secrecy and use this week’s tax and corruption summit in London to demand British overseas tax havens boost transparency and publicly reveal the true owners of the countless shell companies they host.”

'New Zealand prime place for rich to hide money'

Wealthy Latin Americans are using secretive, tax-free New Zealand shelf companies and trusts to help channel funds around the world, according to a report on Monday based on leaks of the so-called Panama Papers, Reuters writes.

Local media analysed more than 61,000 documents relating to New Zealand that are part of the massive leak.

Mossack Fonseca actively promoted New Zealand as a good place to do business due to its tax-free status, high levels of confidentiality and legal security, according to a joint report by Radio New Zealand, TVNZ and investigative journalist Nicky Hager.

Mr Key said it was "utterly incorrect" that New Zealand was a tax haven, adding he was open to changing rules around foreign trusts if advised by a review or the OECD.

Company ownership: Just how open is it across the world?

Company data is the type least likely to be open across the world, according to the Web Foundation, set up by World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

In a statement, Anne Jellema, chief executive of Web Foundation, called for three concrete commitments at this week's anti-corruption summit in the UK.

“Today, company data is the type least likely to be open according to our latest Open Data Barometer. If we want to stamp out corruption and tax evasion for good, we must change this. Politicians must make good their promises to bring secretive structures into the light through proactive data disclosure, starting at this week’s anti-corruption summit.

“Here are three ways governments can take action. First, it’s time for the long-overdue global beneficial ownership registry to become a reality. Second, governments should open up the billions they spend on public contracting to scrutiny by adopting the open contracting data standard. Last, governments should put their commitment to transparency beyond doubt by adopting the international Open Data Charter and pledging to implement its anti-corruption tools."

The Foundation also released the latest results of their study showing data on company ownership is still the least open in the world. Below is a map showing which countries are comparatively more open on company data issues than others (the darker, the more open) but it is important to stress that the Foundation believes more work has to be done since "only one per cent of countries in [featured in the study] publish open company ownership data".

How David Cameron's father and other politicians were caught up in scandal

Revelations that the Prime Minister's father had overseas investments sparked four days of disastrous crisis handling by Downing Street in April.

Mr Cameron eventually made a dramatic mea culpa that he previously held offshore investments with Panama-based Blairmore Holdings Limited - the fifth time Downing Street had issued a different response to the furore.

Twelve other national leaders are among 143 politicians, their families and close associates from around the world known to have been using offshore tax havens.

Celebrities among high-profile offshore investors

The Duchess of York’s chaotic offshore finances are among a host of well-known faces included in the data leak.

Sarah Ferguson, 56, expressed confusion in 2001 over who was running her interests in the British Virgin Islands, according to letters between her solicitor and Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the scandal.

How can I access the data?

When the data is released at https://offshoreleaks.icij.org, users will be able to search individuals and organisations connected to thousands of offshore entities.

ICIJ says: "While the database opens up a world that has never been revealed on such a massive scale, the application will not be a “data dump” of the original documents – it will be a careful release of basic corporate information.

"ICIJ won’t release personal data en masse; the database will not include records of bank accounts and financial transactions, emails and other correspondence, passports and telephone numbers. The selected and limited information is being published in the public interest."